We've all heard the old saying "What gets measured gets done." That quote, often attributed to management gurus like Peter Drucker or Tom Peters, is actually a paraphrase of Lord Kelvin's famous "If you cannot measure it, you cannot improve it." Central to the continuous improvement concept is the idea of developing metrics and benchmarking historical and current performance against them. Read more ...

Editorial Corner

Benchmarking audit recovery ... Telecommuting ... Keeping talent

Across the board, A/P and Shared Services operations are holding everyone accountable for performance and benchmarking to keep score. In this month's feature story, you'll learn how you can boost audit recovery, identify process improvements -- and put more money in the bank -- using an online "dashboard" to track key metrics. APEX Analytix expert Chris Siemasko shares details and outlines the payoffs.

One A/P manager faces a tricky situation. Her staff often asks to work from home, and some top-notch workers want to telecommute. See how other readers manage flexible or work-from-home situations. Their real-world suggestions include choosing teleworkers carefully and setting clear performance expectations.

In this issue, an A/P manager is in a tough spot. He doesn't want to lose good people because he cannot give raises. What's your advice on keeping talented people on board? Please share your thoughts. You could win a 256MB MP3 player.

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I get requests to work from home for various reasons, such as to be home for a delivery or to let a repair person in. And I have some really top-notch employees who want to telecommute. I know that today's technologies let people work from home, but how much time is reasonable? How do you manage flexible and work-from-home situations? And how do you avoid "favoritism" claims? Or do you not allow telecommuting? -- A/P Manager

Like most companies, we have not given raises for a while. On the plus side, we haven't cut salaries or faced layoffs in our department, either. I realize I'm lucky to have a talented pool of productive employees who work for me. Rather than wait for someone to leave for a higher paying job, I want to be proactive to keep my staff intact. Does the fact we can't give raises doom us? Or are there other ways to retain employees?